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Article
Hail to the Thief: A Tribute to Kazaa
University of Ottawa Law and Technology Journal (2005)
  • Matthew Rimmer, Australian National University College of Law
Abstract
This paper considers the ongoing litigation against the peer to peer network Kazaa. Record companies and Hollywood studios have faced jurisdictional and legal problems in suing this network for copyright infringement. As Wired Magazine observes: 'The servers are in Denmark. The software is in Estonia. The domain is registered Down Under, the corporation on a tiny island in the South Pacific. The users - 60 million of them - are everywhere around the world.' In frustration, copyright owners have launched copyright actions against intermediaries - like Internet Service Providers such as Verizon. They have also embarked on filing suits of individual users of file-sharing programs. In addition, copyright owners have called for domestic and international law reform in respect of digital copyright. The Senate Committee on Government Affairs in the United States Congress has reviewed the controversial use of subpoenas in suits against users of file-sharing peer to peer networks. The United States has encouraged other countries to adopt provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US) in bilateral and regional free trade agreements.
Keywords
  • Copyright Law,
  • Peer-to-Peer Networks,
  • Kazaa,
  • Grokster,
  • Streamcast,
  • Earth Station 5,
  • Internet Jurisdiction,
  • Fair Use,
  • Internet Service Provider Liability,
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
  • Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement.
Disciplines
Publication Date
April 1, 2005
Citation Information
Matthew Rimmer. "Hail to the Thief: A Tribute to Kazaa" University of Ottawa Law and Technology Journal Vol. 2 Iss. 1 (2005)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/matthew_rimmer/14/